Begin Book 2
by Nessie2000
Summary: Bellamy and Clarke talk. As does everyone else. Just a whole lot of communication that I needed to write. P.S. Apparently Jason has decided that everyone will be pissed at Clarke in season 6. This story is essentially my rant in retaliation that no one will ever see. Written for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month)


The screen flashed, and Clarke watched as her daughter became frozen; not to move again for a full decade. Closing her eyes briefly, Clarke fought against nausea that rose up, reminding herself once again that this plan was Raven approved. If that even meant anything anymore.

Clarke took a deep breath to calm herself. Now was not the time to panic. There were pods to seal, the human race to ensure. Everything else was trivial in comparison. She took another breath. She had almost forgotten the near constant worrying that came with being in charge of keeping these people alive.

It was worse now.

There were too many people that she didn't, _couldn't_ trust. They were no longer her people, her family. That had been made abundantly clear to her. She was also keenly aware that she wasn't able to make the hard choices, at least not in the way she was expected to. Her priority was Madi.

Shaking her head, Clarke attempted to banish the voices in her head. There would be more than enough time to deal with them later.

She looked away from the bright panel to see what were likely the world's last siblings saying their goodbyes. She averted her gaze to allow them some semblance of privacy, only glancing back towards them when she heard Octavia's pod hum to life. There stood Bellamy, turned partially away from his sister, leader of the once mighty Wonkru. He appeared to be shifting his weight frequently, seemingly battling to stay where he was. His expression was tense, as though he was struggling against the awareness that he apparently needed to force himself to stay.

Clarke kept her face blank as she observed. He was unsure of his place. This was his sister, after all. One part of him was saying that no matter what she'd done, his place was by her side. Clarke was all too familiar with _this_ Bellamy; her Bellamy. But six years had changed him too. Changed his priorities. He had a new family, and shouldn't feel ashamed of it, as his furrowed brow said. The eldest Blake shifted his eyes away from the pod and around the room, pausing to meet her own. He was searching for either comfort or distraction. Clarke couldn't tell anymore.

Forcing her lips to quirk upward into a small if hopefully reassuring smile, Clarke once again reminded herself to focus. She felt her body move mechanically down the rows of the slumbering human race, and automatically began to check the heart rate of each one.

"What, you don't think I can properly induce Cryo sleep without having my work checked? I managed to make life saving algae easily enough."

Clarke spun around to see Monty standing in the aisle, watching her. Keeping her face devoid of the harsh expression she knew frequented it was challenging, especially when she thought about how she had once again made him an accomplice to murder mere days ago. She scanned his face for any sign of resentment or anger, but Monty was always good at compartmentalizing.

She choked out a laugh, "Old habits die hard, I guess."

"It took you years to get that vomit inducing concoction to the point where it wouldn't kill us, Monty, as you are well aware." Bellamy retorted easily, a lightness in his face that was only present among his family. He made his way over and clasped Monty's shoulder with his hand and squeezed. "Harper asleep yet?" he asked, scanning over the pods for the girl.

Monty shook his head. "Nah, she'll go in just before I do. I just have a few last minutes adjustments to make to the timer before I do though, so you two wouldn't mind finding your beds, we can move this thing along." His words were playful, but the look on his face told Clarke that he had made his mind up about something. A fleeting look towards Bellamy told her that he had picked up on it too.

"Everything alright?" Bellamy intoned quietly, leaning in to make it clear that the question was only meant for their ears.

An expression that Clarke couldn't quite identify flashed quickly across Monty's face, and he swallowed before averting his gaze. He carefully pried Bellamy's hand off of him and allowed a wry smile to show on his face.

"It's been a long few days, Bellamy. I just want to get some sleep."

Bellamy frowned, glancing over at Clarke once again, then nodded.

"Yeah," Bellamy sighed heavily, "Yeah, I get that. I could use about ten years' worth of sleep."

Monty began to walk towards one of the empty pods.

"Come one, Bellamy. It's one thing for you to put others under, but there's no way I trust you to do it correctly to yourself."

Bellamy huffed out a laugh as he made to follow him. "Whatever."

Monty looked over his shoulder. "Clarke, if you want to get settled, I come and start up the pod for you."

Clarke thanked him and wandered back down the aisle over to the pod beside Madi's. She climbed onto the padded surface and laid down, again working to calm her breathing. She listened to the buzzing of the surrounding pods, and the muffled voices of Monty and Bellamy before he too was put to sleep. She heard as Monty walked over to Clarke's pod, and began tapping buttons on the screen.

"Hopefully this thing will actually have you come out rested and not just frozen." He said looking over at her with a brief grin.

Clarke stared at him incredulously.

Monty laughed loudly. "Joking. I just meant that you deserve the rest." He sighed, looking down at her. "You've certainly been though a lot. I don't even know most of it!" He glanced over at the pod beside hers.

She leaned up on to her elbows and placed her hand over his, giving it a firm squeeze.

"We'll talk in the morning," she gave a tired smile. "I want to hear everything. And when we wake up, we'll have nothing but time."

Monty looked at her carefully for a moment, then leaned over and gave her warm hug.

"I've missed you. We all have."

Clarke sat still, enjoying the warmth and the presence of one of her first friends on Earth. They stayed that way for a few precious seconds, then Monty entangled himself from her carefully.

"Sleep well, Clarke"

She eased herself back onto the bed and tried to relax her muscles. "You too, Monty."

Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to imagine her amongst her family. Back on Earth, with another one of their seemingly endless chances to get things right. Listening to the now slight noise her screen produced, she felt the bed move into the pod, and seal itself. She took one last calming breath before the blast of cold air hit her, and she slipped into darkness.

* * *

A rush of warm air forcefully blew through the pod, warming Clarke's body from the outside in. There was a hiss as the seal was broken, and the bed began to emerge from the pod. Clarke stayed still briefly, allowing what remained of the heat to warm her bones. She stretched out her muscles one by one, which were reasonably stiff from ten years of slumber. With a deep breath, she prepared herself for the chaos that would come with getting everyone ready to live on Earth once again.

Clarke forced her body to move into a sitting position, and then slowly climbed off of the barely padded bed, her eyes adjusting to the light quickly as they darted around the room curiously.

The other pods were still occupied.

In the process of trying to work out what this could mean, she almost missed the hiss of another pod opening up. Her head whipped around in time to see the familiar brown curls of her former co-leader emerge from cryo-sleep. She stood up and walked over to his pod, waiting patiently as he too took his time waking himself up.

She watched with a serene smile as Bellamy opened his eyes to meet her own. He gave an easy smile back. They both ignored the tension that had been between them when they had gone to sleep, and instead chose to be grateful that they had both survived.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Bellamy groaned as he sat up. His brow furrowed as he looked around the still room.

"Why's it just us?" He continued to look around as though the answer would be stated clearly on a sign.

"That's the way Mom and Dad wanted it."

Clarke turned her head quickly to see a boy of about her age standing in the doorway beside the main control panel. He was tall, lanky, and his eyes were free of the ghost with which she had become so familiar. He stood before them bouncing on the balls of his feet, brimming with happiness.

She looked out of the corner of her eye to see Bellamy looking just as bewildered as she felt. Who was this person?

"Uh, can I just say, wow. I mean I can't tell you how good it is to _finally_ meet you. Weird, but good. Great, actually." The boy typed something into the screen, still practically vibrating with excitement.

"Who are you?" Bellamy gets out before she can.

The boy looks puzzled when he hears the question, but recovers quickly, smiling once again.

"My name. Right. I didn't tell you my name. Sorry. I've never met anyone before, so I clearly suck at it." He laughed, the smile lighting up his entire face.

The laughter is not reciprocated as Clarke and Bellamy continue to stand stone-faced.

"I'm Jordan. Monty and Harper's son."

There's silence for a moment as the introduction lingers in the air.

Bellamy swallows heavily. "They didn't go to sleep." It's not a question, but the words are still confused.

Jordan is quick to reassure them. "They talked about your time on the ring a lot. Too much, actually." He says to himself. "How happy they were there. I guess they wanted to get back to that." He seems to focus himself then. "Get dressed and come to the bridge. Dad left explicit instructions. Wake Clarke and Bellamy first. Play them the message."

Jordan turns to leave, and Clarke is startled out of her silence.

"Hey, wait!" The words come out weaker than she'd have liked.

Jordan stops and turns to look at her expectantly.

"How long were we asleep?"

The look Jordan gives them is hesitant, and resigned, as though he knew they would ask the question and had hoped he wouldn't have to be the one to answer.

"One hundred and twenty-five years."


End file.
